How Seattleites are coping with the high cost of groceries

Groceries in the Seattle region are about 30% more expensive than they were before the pandemic, according to the Bureau of Labor statistics annual index. It’s a price hike most major cities are grappling with, but in a high-cost-of-living place like Seattle, the pressure on family budgets can be especially acute.

That’s driving some local consumers to change their shopping habits. KUOW’s Booming team asked listeners their money-saving hacks to deal with rising costs, and many said they are turning to discount grocery stores, foregoing dining out, and using apps like Too Good To Go, which sells surplus food at a discount.

Some shoppers are even turning to dollar stores for groceries, despite the fact that most don’t offer fresh food.

“ The feedback that I often get from my audience is that just because grocery prices are going up doesn't mean people have more money to spend at the grocery store,” Rebecca Chobat said, relaxing in the new home she just bought with her partner in Arlington, Wash.

Chobat is the creator behind Dollar Tree Dinners, a social media channel in which she shows how to make a family-sized meal for $10 or $20 using only items she finds at the dollar store.

“Wages don't [always] increase,” she said. “We were talking at the store about fixed incomes, seniors with disabilities, and I think that there's a real need for what I do. It just gives people an alternative to your regular everyday grocery store, and it showcases a different opportunity for saving money on groceries.”

Though most of the foods available at Dollar Store are processed to maintain a long shelf life, Chobat finds creative ways to put together a balanced meal.

On a recent day at her local Dollar Tree, she selected two bags of Spanish rice, two cans of chicken, one can of tomatoes and peppers, one can of black beans, some crunchy tortilla strips, and a cilantro-lime sauce to make a Tex-Mex style dish. The total was $10. When she started Dollar Tree Dinners, $10 bought her 10 items, but not even dollar stores are immune to inflation pressure.

Chobat’s content has struck a chord. Dollar Tree Dinners has 3.5 million followers on TikTok. With that kind of following, Chobat no longer needs to maintain such a strict grocery budget. But that wasn’t always the case.

“ When I was in my early twenties, I was in a position where I had to donate plasma in order to be able to afford groceries … I didn't really know how to cook, I didn't really know how to budget, and I didn't have any money for food,” she said. “I wish I had known back then that Dollar Tree had food. It would've saved me a lot of trouble, because I was just trying to make ends meet.”

Many of Chobat’s followers are on fixed incomes, or live in food deserts where dollar stores are the only places they can get groceries. There is some evidence that the proliferation of dollar stores (there are some 35,000 in the U.S. today) drives grocery stores out of rural communities.

“ It's one of those things where there's no win, there's no better solution sometimes than a dollar store,” Chobat said. “Because they have low operating costs, they have small locations, limited inventory. They usually can run with a few people. But if you were to look at the operating cost of a larger grocery store, they just can't make it work in a rural area. So it's a Catch-22. Is it predatory or is it bridging a gap? Is it bringing food to people who might not otherwise have it? Can it be both? Yes. Ultimately it can be both.”

It’s not just low-income families and retirees turning to dollar stores. In Dollar Tree’s December earnings call, the company said millions of new customers started shopping at its stores in the third quarter of last year. And about 60% of those new customers had household income of more than $100,000 a year.

Several KUOW listeners said they are relying more on dollar stores, Grocery Outlet, buying in bulk, and traveling outside the city in search of cheaper groceries. Economist James McCafferty also suggests shopping on less popular days of the week and visiting multiple stores to save costs. He oversees a team that studies the cost of common goods in the area at Western Washington University.

“The more expensive days in groceries are always going to be across the weekend, and it's because historically it's been harder for them to get inventory in,” he said. “So, your highest prices typically in groceries are always Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Your least expensive days are always typically Tuesdays and Wednesdays.”

Of course, not everyone has a flexible enough work schedule or time to visit multiple stores in the middle of the week. Often savings require trading time for money. Still, McCafferty says it can be worth it.

“You can find yourself cutting your grocery bill significantly just by changing the day of week and perhaps the grocery store you're going to,” he said. “And that's real money at the end of the day.”

Hear more stories like this on KUOW's economy podcast, Booming: